Women: Statement by Ambassador Herman Schaper on the occasion of CSW and International Women’s Day

3/1/2012

Statement by

H.E. Ambassador Herman Schaper

Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

on the occasion of CSW and International Women’s Day

the UN Women Fund for Gender Equality will reflect and celebrate on the
successes of its economic and political empowerment grants from across the world
($ 45 million in 40 countries invested since 2010)

New York, 1 March 2012

Madame Chair,

Introduction

The Netherlands is proud to be associated with the UN Women Gender Equality
Fund and honoured to be invited to today’s panel on ‘Advancing National and
Regional-led Rural Women’s Economic Empowerment and Leadership’. The Netherlands
shares UN Women’s commitment to gender equality and is impressed by its
investment of $ 45 million in 40 countries since 2010.

2011 Arab grant-making cycle

We would like to commend the thorough work done by the Fund for the 2011 Arab
grant-making cycle as it focuses on the political and economic empowerment of
women in the Arab region. This is particularly relevant in view of the processes
of change in the region. In 2011 we contributed USD 1.2 million for the tender
for the Arab region.

The diversity and quality of the selected proposals impress us. Organizations
such as the Stars of Hope Society and Karama inspire us as they bring women
across the region together. We would like to encourage the participating
organizations and their partners to strengthen their cooperation. Focus of the
Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Arab region Developments in the Arab
region are often discussed in the Dutch parliament and the parliament requested
the Minister of Foreign Affairs to support the political empowerment of women in
the Arab region. Two examples of this are the 2 million euros which are reserved
for the coming three years for projects in the Middle East and North African
region focused on the United National Security Council Resolution 1325 on
‘Women, Peace and Security’. Secondly, the Netherlands contributes to projects
of UN Women Egypt, UN Women Morocco and the UN Women Gender Equality Fund which
together total 3 million euros.

Dutch international gender policy

As far as our international gender policy is concerned, a significant amount
of attention is given to women’s economic empowerment and leadership. We fully
support UN Women’s initiative to improve the working and economic conditions of
rural women and communities. This will have long lasting positive impacts on
agriculture and food security.

One of the priorities of the Dutch international gender policy is economic
self-reliance for women. The Netherlands specifically emphasizes female
entrepreneurship in economic diplomacy and corporate social responsibility. We
strive to have all of our own funds that stimulate economic development assessed
according to their promotion of gender equality.

In order to attain these goals, we have two four-year funds, which mainly
focus on political and economic empowerment. One is the MDG-3 fund that will end
this year and amounts to 77 million euros. The other is the Funding Leadership
and Opportunities for Women (FLOW)-fund, which has just started, and totals 70
million euros.

Dutch international gender policy – gender-mainstreaming

Part of our gender policy is to integrate gender issues in the Dutch foreign
policy and development cooperation, also known as gender-mainstreaming. For
example, women in developing countries produce half of all food. Water is an
important production factor for food and therefore the Netherlands focuses on
increasing the participation of women in decision-making on water management. A
subject on which my country has special expertise.

In conclusion, the Netherlands would like to encourage UN Women to continue
to pursue its goal to advance women’s economic and political empowerment. The
Netherlands fully supports UN Women’s efforts and the close cooperation with
development partners, to reach this common goal.